Thinking Machines Exodus Tests Investor Appetite for a $50 Billion Valuation

The timing couldn’t have been more awkward for Thinking Machines Lab.

On Wednesday, during an all-hands meeting at the AI startup, its CEO, Mira Murati, announced that she had fired one of Thinking Machines’ co-founders, its Chief Technology Officer Barret Zoph, for poor performance and speaking with competitors, according to a person familiar with the matter. During the meeting, two more Thinking Machines researchers, Luke Metz and Sam Schoenholz, dropped bombshells when they separately posted in the company Slack that they were quitting, the person said.